Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible

This chapter seems to be like Solomon's proverbs, a collection of wise
sayings and observations, rather than a part of his sermon; but the
preacher studied to be sententious, and "set in order many proverbs,"
to be brought in in his preaching. Yet the general scope of all the
observations in this chapter is to recommend wisdom to us, and its
precepts and rules, as of great use for the right ordering of our
conversation and to caution us against folly.
I. He recommends wisdom to private persons, who are in an inferior
station.
1. It is our wisdom to preserve our reputation, in managing our affairs
dexterously,
ver. 1-3.
2. To be submissive to our superiors if at any time we have offended
them,
ver. 4.
3. To live quiet and peaceable lives, and not to meddle with those that
are factious and seditious, and are endeavouring to disturb the
government and the public repose, the folly and danger of which
disloyal and turbulent practices he shows,
ver. 8-11.
4. To govern our tongues well,
ver. 12-15.
5. To be diligent in our business and provide well for our families,
ver. 18, 19.
6. Not to speak ill of our rulers, no, not in secret,
ver. 20.
II. He recommends wisdom to rulers; let them not think that, because
their subjects must be quiet under them, therefore they may do what
they please; no, but,
1. Let them be careful whom they prefer to places of trust and power,
ver. 5-7.
2. Let them manage themselves discreetly, be generous and not childish,
temperate and not luxurious,
ver. 16, 17.
Happy the nation when princes and people make conscience of their duty
according to these rules.

The Advantages of Wisdom.

1 Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth
a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in
reputation for wisdom and honour.
2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart
at his left.
3 Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his
wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a
fool.

In these verses Solomon shows,

I. What great need wise men have to take heed of being guilty of any
instance of folly; for a little folly is a great blemish to him
that is in reputation for wisdom and honour, and is as hurtful
to his good name as dead flies are to a sweet perfume, not only
spoiling the sweetness of it, but making it to send forth a stinking
savour. Note,
1. True wisdom is true honour, and will gain a man a reputation, which
is like a box of precious ointment, pleasing and very valuable.
2. The reputation that is got with difficulty, and by a great deal of
wisdom, may be easily lost, and by a little folly, because envy
fastens upon eminency, and makes the worst of the mistakes and
miscarriages of those who are cried up for wisdom, and improves them to
their disadvantage; so that the folly which in another would not be
taken notice of in them is severely censured. Those who make a great
profession of religion have need to walk very circumspectly, to
abstain from all appearances of evil, and approaches towards it,
because many eyes are upon them, that watch for their halting; their
character is soon sullied, and they have a great deal of reputation to
lose.

II. What a deal of advantage a wise man has above a fool in the
management of business
(v. 2):
A wise man's heart is at his right hand, so that he goes about
his business with dexterity, turns his hand readily to it, and goes
through it with despatch; his counsel and courage are ready to him,
whenever he has occasion for them. But a fool's heart is at his left
hand; it is always to seek when he has any thing to do that is of
importance, and therefore he goes awkwardly about it, like a man that
is left-handed; he is soon at a loss and at his wits' end.

III. How apt fools are at every turn to proclaim their own folly, and
expose themselves; he that is either witless or graceless, either silly
or wicked, if he be ever so little from under the check, and left to
himself, if he but walk by the way, soon shows what he is; his
wisdom fails him, and, by some impropriety or other, he says
to every one he meets that he is a fool
(v. 3),
that is, he discovers his folly as plainly as if he had told them so.
He cannot conceal it, and he is not ashamed of it. Sin is the reproach
of sinners wherever they go.

Mutual Duties of Princes and Subjects.

4 If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not
thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.
5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an
error which proceedeth from the ruler:
6 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as
servants upon the earth.
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh
a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
9 Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that
cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
10 If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must
he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
11 Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a
babbler is no better.

The scope of these verses is to keep subjects loyal and dutiful to the
government. In Solomon's reign the people were very rich, and lived in
prosperity, which perhaps made them proud and petulant, and when the
taxes were high, though they had enough to pay them with, it is
probable that many conducted themselves insolently towards the
government and threatened to rebel. To such Solomon here gives some
necessary cautions.

I. Let not subjects carry on a quarrel with their prince upon any
private personal disgust
(v. 4):
"If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, if upon some
misinformation given him, or some mismanagement of thine, he is
displeased at thee, and threaten thee, yet leave not thy place,
forget not the duty of a subject, revolt not from thy allegiance, do
not, in a passion, quit thy post in his service and throw up thy
commission, as despairing ever to regain his favour. No, wait awhile,
and thou wilt find he is not implacable, but that yielding pacifies
great offences." Solomon speaks for himself, and for every wise and
good man that is a master, or a magistrate, that he could easily
forgive those, upon their submission, whom yet, upon their provocation,
he had been very angry with. It is safer and better to yield to an
angry prince than to contend with him.

II. Let not subjects commence a quarrel with their prince, though the
public administration be not in every thing as they would have it. He
grants there is an evil often seen under the sun, and it is a
king's-evil, an evil which the king only can cure, for it is an
error which proceeds from the ruler
(v. 5);
it is a mistake which rulers, consulting their personal affections more
than the public interests, are too often guilty of, that men are not
preferred according to their merit, but folly is set in great
dignity, men of shattered brains, and broken fortunes, are put in
places of power and trust, while the rich men of good sense and good
estates, whose interest would oblige them to be true to the public, and
whose abundance would be likely to set them above temptations to
bribery and extortion, yet sit in low places, and can get no preferment
(v. 6),
either the ruler knows not how to value them or the terms of preferment
are such as they cannot in conscience comply with. It is ill with a
people when vicious men are advanced and men of worth are kept under
hatches. This is illustrated
v. 7.
"I have seen servants upon horses, men not so much of mean
extraction and education (if that were all, it were the more excusable,
nay, there is many a wise servant who with good reason has rule over
a son that causes shame), but of sordid, servile, mercenary
dispositions. I have seen these riding in pomp and state as princes,
while princes, men of noble birth and qualities, fit to rule a kingdom,
have been forced to walk as servants upon the earth, poor and
despised." Thus God, in his providence, punishes a wicked people; but,
as far as it is the ruler's act and deed, it is certainly his
error, and a great evil, a grievance to the subject and
very provoking; but it is an error under the sun, which will
certainly be rectified above the sun, and when it shall shine no more,
for in heaven it is only wisdom and holiness that are set in great
dignity. But, if the prince be guilty of his error, yet let not the
subjects leave their place, nor rise up against the government,
nor form any project for the alteration of it; nor let the prince carry
on the humour too far, nor set such servants, such beggars, on
horseback, as will ride furiously over the ancient land-marks of the
constitution, and threaten the subversion of it.

1. Let neither prince nor people violently attempt any changes, nor
make a forcible entry upon a national settlement, for they will both
find it of dangerous consequence, which he shows here by four
similitudes, the scope of which is to give us a caution not to meddle
to our own hurt. Let not princes invade the rights and liberties of
their subjects; let not subjects mutiny and rebel against their
princes; for,
(1.) He that digs a pit for another, it is ten to one but he
falls into it himself, and his violent dealing returns upon his
own head. If princes become tyrants, or subjects become rebels, all
histories will tell both what is likely to be their fate and that it is
at their utmost peril, and it were better for both to be content within
their own bounds.
(2.) Whoso breaks a hedge, an old hedge, that has long been a
land-mark, let him expect that a serpent, or adder, such
as harbour in rotten hedges, will bite him; some viper or other
will fasten upon his hand,
Acts xxviii. 3.
God, by his ordinance, as by a hedge, has inclosed the prerogatives and
powers of princes; their persons are under his special protection;
those therefore that form any treasonable designs against their peace,
their crown, and dignity, are but twisting halters for themselves.
(3.) Whoso removes stones, to pull down a wall or building, does
but pluck them upon himself; he shall be hurt therewith, and
will wish that he had let them alone. Those that go about to alter a
well-modelled well-settled government, under colour of redressing some
grievances and correcting some faults in it, will quickly perceive not
only that it is easier to find fault than to mend, to demolish that
which is good than to build up that which is better, but that they
thrust their own fingers into the fire and overwhelm themselves in the
ruin they occasion.
(4.) He that cleaves the wood, especially if, as it follows, he
has sorry tools
(v. 10),
shall be endangered thereby; the chips, or his own axe-head,
will fly in his face. If we meet with knotty pieces of timber, and we
think to master them by force and violence, and hew them to pieces,
they may not only prove too hard for us, but the attempt may turn to
our own damage.

2. Rather let both prince and people act towards each other with
prudence, mildness, and good temper: Wisdom is profitable to
direct the ruler how to manage a people that are inclined to be
turbulent, so as neither, on the one hand, by a supine negligence to
embolden and encourage them, nor, on the other hand, by rigour and
severity to exasperate and provoke them to any seditious practices. It
is likewise profitable to direct the subjects how to act towards a
prince that is inclined to bear hard upon them, so as not to alienate
his affections from them, but to win upon him by humble remonstrances
(not insolent demands, such as the people made upon Rehoboam), by
patient submissions and peaceable expedients. The same rule is to be
observed in all relations, for the preserving of the comfort of them.
Let wisdom direct to gentle methods and forbear violent ones.
(1.) Wisdom will teach us to whet the tool we are to make use of,
rather than, by leaving it blunt, oblige ourselves to exert so much the
more strength,v. 10.
We might save ourselves a great deal of labour, and prevent a great
deal of danger, if we did whet before we cut, that is, consider and
premeditate what is fit to be said and done in every difficult case,
that we may accommodate ourselves to it and may do our work smoothly
and easily both to others and to ourselves. Wisdom will direct how to
sharpen and put an edge upon both ourselves and those we employ, not to
work deceitfully
(Ps. lii. 2),
but to work cleanly and cleverly. The mower loses no time when he is
whetting his scythe.
(2.) Wisdom will teach us to enchant the serpent we are to contend
with, rather than think to out-hiss it
(v. 11):
The serpent will bite if he be not by singing and music charmed
and enchanted, against which therefore he stops his ears
(Ps. lviii. 4, 5);
and a babbler is no better to all those who enter the lists with
him, who therefore must not think by dint of words to out-talk him, but
be prudent management to enchant him. He that is lord of the
tongue (so the phrase is), a ruler that has liberty of speech and
may say what he will, it is as dangerous dealing with him as with a
serpent uncharmed; but, if you use the enchantment of a mild and humble
submission, you may be safe and out of danger; herein wisdom,
the meekness of wisdom, is profitable to direct. By long forbearing
is a prince persuaded,Prov. xxv. 15.
Jacob enchanted Esau with a present and Abigail David. To those that
may say any thing it is wisdom to say nothing that is provoking.

The Contemptibleness of Folly.

12 The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips
of a fool will swallow up himself.
13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness:
and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
14 A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall
be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
15 The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them,
because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

Solomon, having shown the benefit of wisdom, and of what great
advantage it is to us in the management of our affairs, here shows the
mischief of folly and how it exposes men, which perhaps comes in as a
reflection upon those rulers who set folly in great dignity.

I. Fools talk a great deal to no purpose, and they show their folly as
much by the multitude, impertinence, and mischievousness of their
words, as by any thing; whereas the words of a wise man's mouth are
gracious, are grace, manifest grace in his heart and minister grace
to the hearers, are good, and such as become him, and do good to all
about him, the lips of a fool not only expose him to reproach
and make him ridiculous, but will swallow up himself and bring
him to ruin, by provoking the government to take cognizance of his
seditious talk and call him to an account for it. Adonijah foolishly
spoke against his own life,1 Kings ii. 23.
Many a man has been sunk by having his own tongue fall upon him,Ps. lxiv. 8.
See what a fool's talk is.
1. It takes rise from his own weakness and wickedness: The beginning
of the words of his mouth is foolishness, the foolishness bound up
in his heart, that is the corrupt spring out of which all these
polluted streams flow, the evil treasure out of which evil things are
brought. As soon as he begins to speak you may perceive his folly; at
the very first he talks idly, and passionately, and like himself.
2. It rises up to fury, and tends to the hurt and injury of others:
The end of his talk, the end it comes to, is madness. He
will presently talk himself into an indecent heat, and break out into
the wild extravagancies of a distracted man. The end he aims at is
mischief; as, at first, he appeared to have little government of
himself, so, at last, it appears he has a great deal of malice to his
neighbours; that root of bitterness bears gall and wormwood. Note, It
is not strange if those that begin foolishly end madly; for an
ungoverned tongue, the more liberty is allowed, grows the more violent.
3. It is all the same over and over
(v. 14):
A fool also is full of words, a passionate fool especially, that
runs on endlessly and never knows when to leave off. He will have the
last word, though it be but the same with that which was the first.
What is wanting in the weight and strength of his words he endeavours
in vain to make up in the number of them; and they must be repeated,
because otherwise there is nothing in them to make them regarded. Note,
Many who are empty of sense are full of words; and the least
solid are the most noisy. The following words may be taken either,
(1.) As checking him for his vainglorious boasting in the multitude of
his words, what he will do and what he will have, not considering that
which every body knows that a man cannot tell what shall be in
his own time, while he lives
(Prov. xxvii. 1),
much less can one tell what shall be after him, when he is dead
and gone. Would we duly consider our own ignorance of, and uncertainty
about, future events, it would cut off a great many of the idle words
we foolishly multiply. Or,
(2.) As mocking him for his tautologies. He is full of words,
for if he do but speak the most trite and common thing, a man cannot
tell what shall be, because he loves to hear himself talk, he will
say it again, what shall be after him who can tell him? like
Battus in Ovid:

II. Fools toil a great deal to no purpose
(v. 15);
The labour of the foolish, to accomplish their designs,
wearies every one of them.
1. They weary themselves in that labour which is very foolish and
absurd. All their labour is for the world and the body, and the meat
that perishes, and in this labour they spend their strength, and
exhaust their spirits, and weary themselves for very vanity,Hab. ii. 13; Isa. lv. 2.
They choose that service which is perfect drudgery rather than that
which is perfect liberty.
2. That labour which is necessary, and would be profitable, and might
be gone through with ease, wearies them, because they go about it
awkwardly and foolishly, and so make their business a toil to them,
which, if they applied themselves to it prudently, would be a pleasure
to them. Many complain of the labours of religion as grievous, which
they would have no reason to complain of if the exercises of Christian
piety were always under the direction of Christian prudence. The
foolish tire themselves in endless pursuits, and never bring any thing
to pass, because they know not how to go to the city, that is,
because they have not capacity to apprehend the plainest thing, such as
the entrance into a great city is, where one would think it were
impossible for a man to miss his road. Men's imprudent management of
their business robs them both of the comfort and of the benefit of it.
But it is the excellency of the way to the heavenly city that it is a
high-way, in which the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not
err
(Isa. xxxv. 8);
yet sinful folly makes men miss that way.

Mutual Duties of Princes and Subjects.

16 Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy
princes eat in the morning!
17 Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of
nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not
for drunkenness!
18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through
idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but
money answereth all things.
20 Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the
rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the
voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Solomon here observes,

I. How much the happiness of a land depends upon the character of its
rulers; it is well or ill with the people according as the princes are
good or bad.
1. The people cannot be happy when their princes are childish and
voluptuous
(v. 16):
Woe unto thee, O land! even the land of Canaan itself, though
otherwise the glory of all lands, when thy king is a child, not
so much in age (Solomon himself was young when his kingdom was happy in
him) as in understanding; when the prince is weak and foolish as a
child, fickle and fond of changes, fretful and humoursome, easily
imposed upon, and hardly brought to business, it is ill with the
people. The body staggers if the head be giddy. Perhaps Solomon wrote
this with a foresight of his son Rehoboam's ill conduct
(2 Chron. xiii. 7);
he was a child all the days of his life and his family and kingdom
fared the worse for it. Nor is it much better with a people when their
princes eat in the morning, that is, make a god of their belly
and make themselves slaves to their appetites. If the king himself be a
child, yet if the princes and privy-counsellors are wise and faithful,
and apply themselves to business, the land may do the better; but if
they addict themselves to their pleasures, and prefer the
gratifications of the flesh before the despatch of the public business,
which they disfit themselves for by eating and drinking in a
morning, when judges are epicures, and do not eat to live, but live
to eat, what good can a nation expect!
2. The people cannot but be happy when their rulers are generous and
active, sober and temperate, and men of business,
v. 17.
The land is then blessed,
(1.) When the sovereign is governed by principles of honour, when
the king is the son of nobles, actuated and animated by a noble
spirit, which scorns to do any thing base and unbecoming so high a
character, which is solicitous for the public welfare, and prefers that
before any private interests. Wisdom, virtue, and the fear of God,
beneficence, and a readiness to do good to all mankind, these ennoble
the royal blood.
2. When the subordinate magistrates are more in care to discharge their
trusts than to gratify their appetites; when they eat in due
season
(Ps. cxlv. 15);
let us not take ours unseasonable, lest we lose the comfort of seeing
God give it to us. Magistrates should eat for strength, that
their bodies may be fitted to serve their souls in the service of God
and their country, and not for drunkenness, to make themselves
unfit to do any thing either for God or man, and particularly to sit
in judgment, for they will err through wine
(Isa. xxviii. 7),
will drink and forget the law,Prov. xxxi. 5.
It is well with a people when their princes are examples of temperance,
when those that have most to spend upon themselves know how to deny
themselves.

II. Of what ill consequence slothfulness is both to private and public
affairs
(v. 18):
By much slothfulness and idleness of the hands, the neglect of
business, and the love of ease and pleasure, the building decays,
drops through first, and by degrees drops down. If it be not kept
well covered, and care be not taken to repair the breaches, as any
happen, it will rain in, and the timber will rot, and the house will
become unfit to dwell in. It is so with the family and the affairs of
it; if men cannot find in their hearts to take pains in their callings,
to tend their shops and look after their own business, they will soon
run in debt and go behind-hand, and, instead of making what they have
more for their children, will make it less. It is so with the public;
if the king be a child and will take no care, if the princes
eat in the morning and will take no pains, the affairs of the
nation suffer loss, and its interests are prejudiced, its honour is
sullied, its power is weakened, its borders are encroached upon, the
course of justice is obstructed, the treasure is exhausted, and all its
foundations are out of course, and all this through the slothfulness of
self-seeking of those that should be the repairers of its breaches
and the restorers of paths to dwell in,Isa. lviii. 12.

III. How industrious generally all are, both princes and people, to get
money, because that serves for all purposes,
v. 19.
He seems to prefer money before mirth: A feast is made for
laughter, not merely for eating, but chiefly for pleasant
conversation and the society of friends, not the laughter of the fool,
which is madness, but that of wise men, by which they fit themselves
for business and severe studies. Spiritual feasts are made for
spiritual laughter, holy joy in God. Wine makes merry, makes glad
the life, but money is the measure of all things and
answers all things. Pecuniæ obediunt omnia--Money commands all
things. Though wine make merry, it will not be a house for
us, nor a bed, nor clothing, nor provisions and portions for children;
but money, if men have enough of it, will be all these. The
feast cannot be made without money, and, though men have wine, they are
not so much disposed to be merry unless they have money for the
necessary supports of life. Money of itself answers nothing; it will
neither feed nor clothe; but, as it is the instrument of commerce, it
answers all the occasions of this present life. What is to be had may
be had for money. But it answers nothing to the soul; it will not
procure the pardon of sin, the favour of God, the peace of conscience;
the soul, as it is not redeemed, so it is not maintained, with
corruptible things as silver and gold. Some refer this to
rulers; it is ill with the people when they give up themselves to
luxury and riot, feasting and making merry, not only because their
business is neglected, but because money must be had to answer
all these things, and, in order to that, the people squeezed
by heavy taxes.

IV. How cautious subjects have need to be that they harbour not any
disloyal purposes in their minds, nor keep up any factious cabals or
consultations against the government, because it is ten to one that
they are discovered and brought to light,
v. 20.
"Though rulers should be guilty of some errors, yet be not, upon all
occasions, arraigning their administration and running them down, but
make the best of them." Here,
1. The command teaches us our duty "Curse not the king, no, not in
thy thought, do not wish ill to the government in thy mind." All
sin begins there, and therefore the first risings of it must be curbed
and suppressed, and particularly that of treason and sedition.
"Curse not the rich, the princes and governors, in thy
bed-chamber, in a conclave or club of persons disaffected to the
government; associate not with such; come not into their secret;
join not with them in speaking ill of the government or plotting
against it."
2. The reason consults our safety. "Though the design be carried on
ever so closely, a bird of the air shall carry the voice to the
king, who has more spies about than thou art aware of, and that
which has wings shall tell the matter, to thy confusion and ruin."
God sees what men do, and hears what they say, in secret; and, when he
pleases, he can bring it to light by strange and unsuspected ways.
Wouldst thou then not be hurt by the powers that be, nor
be afraid of them? Do that which is good and thou shalt have
praise of the same; but, if thou do that which is evil, be afraid,Rom. xiii. 3, 4.